In Lincoln’s telling, another reason for his family’s move to Indiana was their repudiation of slavery. His immediate family opposed slavery but were not part of the abolition movement. The appeal of a free state was as likely practical as moral. Farmers like Thomas Lincoln could not compete financially with plantation owners who had an enslaved workforce. Throughout his life, Lincoln connected free labor with “a fair chance, in the race of life.” The federal government encouraged white Americans and recent immigrants from other countries to populate the new states in what is now the Midwest. Guides such as the one seen here promoted this emigration. This one was published the year after the Lincoln family migrated from Indiana to Illinois.
